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The castle in Dzięgielów lies on the eastern edge of the village. The current Renaissance building was not the first stronghold. During the excavations, the traces of an earlier, medieval fortified settlement were uncovered here, which served primarily residential and defensive purposes. The archaeologists have uncovered fragments of walls and foundations of the circular building, which was probably a tower.
Castle in Dziegielow was built in 15th century. It is a building made of stone and brick. Castle was made up from four parts – for wings (three of them remained until now).
Western part is a front wing with wide vestibule, with four bays in side walls with cradled vaulting and sail vaulting. On the ground floor, on the right, there is a big hall, formerly castle chapel and on the left there are rooms of a different size intended for the castle servants. Wide stone stairs lead upstairs to the first floor from opened-corridor, from the courtyard side, with three semicircular arc shaped arcades. There were living rooms on the first floor. Western floor turns into Southern, which on the ground floor, despite living rooms, has many spaces and chambers that were used for storing food, beer seasoning, wine and vodka storage, for in the past times there was distillery and brewery located inside the castle.
Northern part is separate, rebuild in 18th century living building, single-storeyed and cellared. Living rooms were intended for many guests, coming not only for hunting, but also visiting castle for the occasion of meetings and conferences, in times when castle owners were high standing in dutchy and in Austrian monarchy.
North East courtyard wing with separate entrances and staircase despite rooms had large pigsties and horse stables. Here, dispatch riders were changing their horses for the next journeys. Over the vestibule entrance – portal of semicircular finish, shaped, with Sreniawa and Ogonczyk crests. Similar, but bigger portal adorns western gate. Over the portal cartouche with Sreniawa, Goczalkowski and Odrowaz crests with date 1768. Over pigsties and stables – high, beamed attic, being used as a storage for fodder for cattle and horses.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.